1. National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning
(NPTEL)
Plantwide Control of Integrated Chemical Processes
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur 208016
Course Coordinator
Dr Nitin Kaistha
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, INDIA

2. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 0 Introduction to Course 01-03
0.1 Background and Motivation 01
0.2 Organization of the Course 03
MODULE I: Essential Process Control Basics
Chapter 1 Process Dynamics 05-11
1.1 Standard Input Changes 06
1.2 Basic Response Types 06
1.2.1 First Order Lag 06
1.2.2 Higher Order Lags 07
1.2.3 Second Order Response 07
1.2.4 Other Common Response Types 09
1.2.5 Unstable Systems 10
1.3 Combination of Basic Reponses 10
Chapter 2 Feedback Control 12-21
2.1 The Feedback Loop and its Components 12
2.2 PID Control 13
2.2.1 The Control Algorithm 13
2.2.2 Controller Tuning 14
2.3 Process Identification 17
2.3.1 Process Reaction Curve Fitting 17
2.3.2 Autotuning 19
2.4 Controller Modes and Action 20
2.5 Rules of Thumb for Controller Tuning 20
2.5.1 Flow Loops 20
2.5.2 Level Loops 21
2.5.2 Pressure Loops 21
2.5.3 Temperature Loops 21
2.5.4 Quality Loops 21
Chapter 3 Advanced Control Structures 23-29
3.1 Ratio Control 23
3.2 Cascade Control 24
3.3 Feedforward Control 26
3.4 Override Control 28
3.5 Valve Positioning (Optimizing) Control 29
Chapter 4 Multivariable Systems 31-39
4.1 Interaction Metrics 32

3. ii
4.1.1 Niederlinski Index 32
4.1.2 Relative Gain Array 33
4.2 Multivariable Decentralized Control 34
4.2.1 Detuning Multivariable Decentralized Controllers 34
MODULE II: Control of Common Unit Operations
Chapter 5 Control of Distillation Systems 41-64
5.1 Distillation Basics 41
5.1.1 The Simple Distillation Column 41
5.1.2 Splits in a Simple Distillation Column 42
5.2 Basic Control Structures 43
5.2.1 The Energy Balance (LQ) Structure 43
5.2.2 Material Balance Structures 45
5.2.3 Other Control Structure Variants 45
5.3 Temperature Based Inferential Control 45
5.3.1 Single-Ended Temperature Control 47
5.3.2 Dual-Ended Temperature Control 47
5.4 Temperature Sensor Location Selection 47
5.4.1 Maximum Slope Criterion 47
5.4.2 Maximum Sensitivity Criterion 51
5.4.3 SVD Criterion 51
5.5 Considerations in Temperature Inferential Control 52
5.5.1 Effect of LLK/HHK 52
5.5.2 Flat Temperature Profiles 52
5.5.3 Easy Separations 52
5.6 Control of Complex Column Configurations 53
5.6.1 Side Draw Columns 53
5.6.2 Side Rectifier / Side Stripper Columns 53
5.7 Control of Heat Integrated Columns 58
5.8 Control of Homogenous Extractive Distillation System 60
5.9 Plantwide Considerations 61
Chapter 6 Control of Reactors 65-81
6.1 Basic Reactor Types 66
6.2 Plug Flow Reactor 67
6.2.1 PFR Basics 67
6.2.2 Control of PFRs 69
6.2.2.1 Adiabatic PFR 69
6.2.2.1 Cooled Tubular Reactors 70
6.2.3 Intermediate Cooling and Cold Shot Cooled Reactors 72
6.3 Continuous Stirred tank Reactor 73
6.3.1 Jacket Cooled CSTR 75
6.3.2 Reaction Heat Removal as Steam 76

4. iii
6.3.3 External Heat Exchanger 77
6.3.4 Cooling Coils 78
6.3.5 External Cooling by Content Recirculation 78
6.3.6 Boiling CSTR with External Condenser 78
6.3.7 Reactor Heat Removal Capacity Constraint 80
Chapter 7 Heat Exchanger Control 82-85
7.1 Control of Utility Heat Exchangers 82
7.2 Control of Process-to-Process Heat Exchangers 84
Chapter 8 Control of Miscellaneous Systems 86-93
8.1 Furnace Controls 86
8.2 Compressor Controls 87
8.3 Decanter Control 89
8.4 Control of Refrigeration Systems 91
8.4.1 Vapor Compression Cycle 91
8.4.2 Vapor Absorption Cycle 91
8.5 Control of Steam Utility System 93
MODULE III: Issues in Plantwide Control System Design
Chapter 9 Control and Steady State Degrees of Freedom 95-107
9.1 Control Degrees of Freedom 95
9.2 Steady State Degrees of Freedom 96
9.3 Degrees of Freedom, Controlled Variables (CVs) and Control Structures 97
9.4 Control Objectives and Choice of CVs 103
9.5 Illustration of Control Objectives and CVs for Example Processes 105
9.6 Snowball Effect 106
Chapter 10 The Pairing Issue: Selection of MVs for CVs 109-116
10.1 Conventional Pairing Approach 109
10.2 Luyben Pairing Approach 109
10.3 Regulatory Control Structure Synthesis Examples: 110
Conventional vs Luyben’s Approach
10.3.1 Single Column Recycle Process 110
10.3.2 Two Column Recycle Process 113
Chapter 11 Economic Considerations in Plantwide Control 117-123
11.1 Economic Process Operation Considerations 117
11.2 Process Operation Modes 118
11.3 Process Constraints and Economic Operation 118
11.4 Approaches for Handling Capacity Constraints 119

5. iv
11.4.1 Backed-off Operation 119
11.4.2 Use of Valve Positioning (Optimizing) Controller 119
11.4.3 Altering Material Balance Control Structure Using Overrides 119
11.4.4 Using Constraint Variable as Throughput Manipulator 120
Chapter 12 Economic Plantwide Control Examples 124-133
12.1 Single Column Recycle Process 124
12.2 Two Column Recycle Process 129
MODULE IV: Economic Plantwide Control Design Procedure and Case Studies
Chapter 13 Systematic Economic Plantwide Control Design Procedure 135-144
13.1 Degrees of Freedom (DOFs) and Plantwide Control Structures 136
13.2 Two-Tier Control System Design Framework 137
13.3 Active Constraint Regions for a Wide Throughput Range 139
13.4 Systematic Control System Design Procedure 140
13.4.1 Step 0: Obtain Active Constraint Regions for the 141
Wide Throughput Range
13.4.2 Step 1: Pair Loops for Tight Maximum Throughput 141
Economic CV Control
13.4.3 Step 2: Design the Inventory (Regulatory) Control System 142
13.4.4 Step 3: Design Loops for Additional Economic CV Control 143
at Lower Throughputs Along with Throughput
Manipulation Strategy
13.4.5 Step 4: Modify Structure for Better Robustness / 144
Operator Acceptance
Chapter 14 Economic Plantwide Control of Recycle Process with Side Reaction 145-154
14.1 Process Description 145
14.2 Economic Plantwide Control System Design 146
14.2.1 Step 0: Active Constraint Regions and Economic Operation 147
14.2.2 Step 1: Loops for Maximum Throughput Economic CV Control 147
14.2.3 Step 2: Inventory (Regulatory) Control System 149
14.2.4 Step 3: Additional Economic CV Control Loops and Throughput 149
Manipulation
14.2.5 Step 4: Modifications for a More Conventional Inventory Control 151
System
Chapter 15 Economic Plantwide Control of Ethyl Benzene Process 155-162
15.1 Process Description 155
15.2 Economic Plantwide Control System Design 155
15.2.1 Step 0: Active Constraint Regions and Optimal Operation 155
15.2.2 Step 1: Loops for Tight Control of Full Active Constraint Set 156
15.2.3 Step 2: Inventory (Regulatory) Control System 158
15.2.4 Step 3: Additional Economic CV Loops and Throughput 158

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Manipulation
15.2.5 Step 4: Modifications a for More Conventional Inventory Control 158
System
Chapter 16 Comprehensive Case Study I: Cumene Process 163-183
16.1 Process Description 163
16.2 Economic Plantwide Control System (CS1) Design 164
16.2.1 Step 0: Optimal Steady State Process Operation 164
16.2.2 Step 1: Loops for Tight Economic CV Control 168
16.2.3 Step 2: Inventory Control System Design 170
16.2.4 Step 3: Throughput Manipulation and Additional Economic Loops 171
16.3 Conventional Plantwide Control Structure (CS2) 172
16.4 Dynamic Simulation Results and Discussion 173
16.4.1 Controller Tuning 173
16.4.2 Closed Loop Results 174
16.4.3 Quantitative Dynamic and Economic Comparison of CS1 and CS2 180
16.4.4 Discussion 182
16.5 Conclusions 183
Chapter 17 Comprehensive Case Study II: C4 isomerization Process 184-200
17.1 Process Description 184
17.2 Economic Plantwide Control System (CS1) Design 185
17.2.1 Step 0: Active Constraint Regions and Economic Operation 185
17.2.2 Step 1: Loops for Tight Economic CV Control 187
17.2.3 Step 2: Inventory Control System 187
17.2.4 Step 3: Throughput Manipulation and Additional Economic Loops 188
17.3 Conventional Plantwide Control Structure (CS2) 189
17.4 Dynamic Simulations and Closed Loop Results 193
17.4.1 Tuning of Controllers 193
17.4.2 Closed Loop Results 195
17.4.3 Quantitative Economic Performance Comparison 199
17.5 Conclusions 199
Bibliography 201-202

7. Condensate Out
Process Stream In
HEAT EXCHANGER
Steamin
Control
Valve
Temperature Controller
Process Stream Out
Transmitter
TC
TT
Figure 0.1. Heat exchanger with temperature controller
Chapter 0. Introduction to Course
0.1. Background and Motivation
Chemical processes are designed and operated for manufacturing value added
chemicals, the value addition providing the economic incentive for the existence of the
process. The fiercely competitive business environment constantly drives research and
innovation for significantly improving existing process technologies and for developing new
technologies to satisfy man’s ever growing needs. On the operation side, the processes are
operated to meet key production objectives that include process safety, product specifications
(production rate and quality) and environmental regulations. These key production objectives
must be satisfied even as the process is subjected to disturbances such as changes in the fresh
feed composition, variation in the ambient temperature, equipment fouling, sensor noise /
bias etc. In other words, the process operation must ensure proper management of the process
variability so that the key production objectives are met even in the presence of the process
variability. This naturally leads to the idea of proper management of process variability, the
task accomplished by a well designed automatic process control system.
Consider the heat exchanger in Figure 0.1. Steam is used to heat a process stream to a
certain temperature. Due to variations in the process stream flow rate and inlet temperature,
the stream outlet temperature varies over a large range. From the process operation
perspective, this is unacceptable since the large variation in the process stream temperature
disturbs the downstream unit (eg. a reactor). The installation of a temperature controller that
manipulates the steam flow rate to hold the outlet stream temperature constant mitigates this
problem to a very large extent. This is illustrated in the outlet stream temperature and steam
flow rate profiles in Figure 0.2. For open loop operation (no temperature control), the
temperature varies over a large range while the steam flow rate remains constant. On the
other hand, for closed loop operation (with temperature control), the variation in the outlet
stream temperature is significantly lower with the steam flow rate showing large variability.
The temperature controller thus transforms the variability in the outlet stream temperature to
the steam flow rate. This simple example illustrates the action of a control loop as an agent
for transformation of process variability.

8. 1
A chemical process consists of various interconnected units with material and energy
recycle. Controlling a process variable by adjusting the flow rate of a process stream
necessarily disturbs the downstream / upstream process due to the interconnection. Material
and energy recycle can cause the variability to be propagated through the entire plant.
Considering the plant-wide propagation / transformation of process variability, the choice of
the variables that are controlled (held at / close to their set-points), the corresponding
variables that are manipulated and the degree of tightness of control (loose / tight control) are
then key determinants of safe and stable process operation. The choice of the controlled and
manipulated variables is also sometimes referred to as the control structure. Modern control
text books provide very little guidance to the practicing engineer on the key issue of control
structure selection for individual unit operations and the complete process, choosing instead
to focus on the control algorithms and their properties with typical mathematical elegance.
How does one go about choosing the most appropriate plant-wide control structure for a
given set of production objectives? This work attempts to provide an engineering common
sense approach to the practicing engineer for answering this key question.
Given a control system that ensures safe and stable process operation in the face of
ever present disturbances, crucial economic variables must be maintained to ensure
economically efficient or optimum process operation. Depending on the prevailing economic
circumstances, optimality may require process operation at the maximum achievable
throughput or lower throughputs. At the optimum steady state, multiple process constraints
are usually active such as reactor operation at maximum cooling
duty/level/temperature/pressure or column operation at its flooding level etc. How close can
the process operate to these constraint limits is intimately tied with the basic plant-wide
control strategy implemented. The converse problem is that of designing the regulatory
plantwide control system such that the back-off from the constraint limits is the least
Figure 0.2. The manipulated (steam flow rate) and controlled variable
(outlet temperature of process stream) with and without control

9. 2
possible. In this work, we also develop a systematic procedure for designing such an
economic plantwide control system.
In summary, this book is targeted at the practicing engineer to help him design
effective plant-wide control systems through an appreciation of the major issues the control
system must address. It is hoped that the targeted audience finds the work of practical utility.
The author invites suggestions, comments and criticisms for improving upon the work.
0.2. Organization of the Course
The course is organized into four modules, excluding this Introduction. In Module 1, the
reader is introduced to the essentials of process control. Only the most practical aspects of
process control theory are presented. Mathematical rigor is deliberately done away with in
favour of a more colloquial style to keep the discussion focused on the most essential and
practical aspects of process control theory. Module 2 is devoted to the control of common
unit operations found in the process industry. The control of distillation columns is
exhaustively dealt with and includes simple, heat integrated and complex column
configurations. The control of industrially common reactor configurations and heat
exchangers is covered next. Finally common control configurations for miscellaneous
systems such as furnaces, heat refrigeration systems and compressors are discussed. Module
3 elaborates upon the key issues in the design of a plant-wide control system. The need for
balancing the reactant inventory and the interaction between the reaction and separation
section of a plant are described. We then go about developing a systematic procedure for
economic plantwide control system design. Three elaborate case studies on realistic chemical
processes are then presented to demonstrate the application of the methodology. Comparisons
with conventional plantwide control structures show that an economic plantwide control
structure can significantly improve (2-20%) the achievable profit (or maximum throughput)
for a given process. Proper design of the plantwide control system is thus shown to be crucial
to achieving economically optimal process operation.